Weird News

Florida invaded by rat-sized snails

by Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

(NEWSER) – No, this is not a 1970s B-movie: South Florida really is dealing with an invasion of giant African land snails. The beastly mollusks can grow as large as rats (the biggest measure eight inches long, the Ocala Star-Bannerreports), and can eat their way through plaster and stucco. More than 1,000 are already being caught per week in Miami-Dade County, and that number is set to swell when the mollusks end their underground hibernation, Reutersreports. Since September 2011, a disturbing 117,000 have been caught.